Azadzoi 1
Semira Azadzoi
Stephen Chinosi
Senior Year Project
12 May 2010
Introduction:
Ethnomusicology is the study of different ethnic groups. It specifically focuses on the
culture’s traditional music. Western music is not included in this study and is only focused on its
traditional aspect of music. In this paper, ethnomusicology of Afghan music is explored and
detailed.
History:
During the 20th century of Afghanistan, its music before the Taliban and Soviet
occupation, music was flourishing all throughout its provinces. There were three Ustads
(professional musicians) that were invited in the King’s court for music. They were Ustad
Qasim, Ustad Ghulam Hussain, and Ustad Faroq Afandi (Akbar Mahboob). Ustad Qasim was
from Afghanistan and played ghazal, Ustad Ghulam Hussain was from Northern India and was
the father of Ustad Sarahang (he played classical northern Indian music), and Ustad Faroq
Afandi was from Turkey and played military music (Mahboob).
Music in Afghanistan was mostly restricted before the 1900s with a King who did not
want music because of religious reasons, just like Taliban (Najim Azadzoi). But when King
Zahir Shah ruled the country, he wanted and encouraged musicians to play and sing for
Afghanistan. This was the beginning of re-establishing Afghanistan’s lost music and creation of
new music (Azadzoi). In the early 1900s these three professional musicians performed for the
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King of Afghanistan but then traveled around different areas of Afghanistan, performing and
teaching the correct notations of classical music to those who were following.
Originally when music was shared, musicians played in a samowad (teahouse) and local
people gathered there to get entertained (Mark Slobin). Other than that Afghan music had many
of its own styles that were only shared with the local people. Around the same time, “Radio
Afghanistan” appeared in Kabul. The radio was a great way to help share the music of
Afghanistan to people from the countryside and to other isolated areas. There was also music
from India and other countries surrounding Afghanistan playing in Afghanistan’s only radio
station.
Music:
Since there are many ethnic groups in Afghanistan, I separated the country to four main
areas. In the North part of Afghanistan we have Mazar-E-Sharif. In the South we have Kandahar,
in the West is Herat and East is Kabul. Most famous styles of Afghan music formed in those
areas and were performed together in Kabul.
In Mazar-E-Sharif there are many ethnic groups but the main ones are Tajik, Turkmen,
and Uzbek. In the Badakhshan province, badakhshi is one of the most popular forms of music of
northern Afghanistan. Although Badakhshan is isolated from the other regions of Afghanistan by
geographic issues, the music is perfectly preserved. The founder/popular person who played this
music was Bazgul Badakhshi (Azadzoi). Another style that formed in the north was qataghani.
Qataghani music became famous even in present day music, because of its catchy tunes. Many
musicians have played this style so there’s no evidence of who created it, but it was passed down
Azadzoi 3
from generation to generation (Lloyd Miller). The main instruments that are played in Mazar-ESharif are ghichack, damboura, dutar, daira, zerbaghali, and occasionally rubab.
In Kandahar the majority ethnic groups are the Pashtuns. The southern part of
Afghanistan’s music is considered to be the purest Afghan folkloric music (Azadzoi). One of the
music styles that are popular from the south is logari. The founder/famous singer of logari music
are Salam Logari and Beltoon (Azadzoi). Another style of music from the south is kiliwali.
Abdula Murqari is mostly a famous singer of singing Pashtun folkloric songs (Azadzoi). The
main instruments of Pashtun music that were played are the rubab, sarinda, and dholak. If
someone wanted to hear the original music of Afghanistan it was getting hard to find it since new
styles and forms of music were evolving and changing. But in the south the “Pashtun culture
provided the basic musical style” (Baily).
In Herat there is a mix of different ethnic groups. The influences of herati music came
from “Irani” and “Afghani” music (Baily). Herati music is mostly played instrumentally from
what I have heard of so far but there are songs of Herat that have lyrics. The three most famous
musicians who are well known of playing herati music are Aziz Herawi, Ustad Rahim
Khushnawaz, and Gholom Bahauddin. Music in Herat has many folkloric songs that get passed
down from generation to generation by playing it by ear. Sometimes music of Herat has klasik
music that has rags and other forms of classical music that came from the influence of northern
classical Indian music (Baily). This music consists of dutar, tambur, rubab, and sometimes
harmonium. And drums that can accompany with this music are zerbaghali, tabla, or dholak.
Last but not least in the east, Kabul was the main city of music. In Kabul’s district,
Kharabat was the place where the main masters of Afghan musicians contributed and became
great legends of Afghan music. The most popular form of music that became well known
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because of Ustad Sarahang was ghazal. Ustad Qasim first introduced this music. Ghazal contains
meaningful lyrics of poetry in the Persian language, played in northern classical Indian style
(Baily). Another style of music that was formed in Kabul was kabuli. Kabuli music is played
with an orchestra of Afghan instruments which vary depending on the song being played (Baily).
Ustad Sarahang’s style of music that made Afghanistan famous was made up from combining
classical northern Indian with Afghan traditional folkloric songs. Ustad Sarahang, Abdul
Ghafoor Brishna, and many others came from Kharabat with the best-educated masters of
Afghan music and were great figures that amateurs adored (Hafizullah Emandi). Also wellknown composers such as Salim Sarmast, Nainawaz, Arman, Nangialai, and many others came
from Kharabat. The instruments that are played in Kabul vary. Instruments that are played are
rubab, tambur, dutar, sitar, dholak, daira, zerbaghali, tabla, harmonium, sarinda, dilruba, and
tula. Specifically in ghazal music there is harmonium, tabla, (sometimes rubab too) and a
tanpura a drone for background music.